Wolfert Brederode, Currents (ECM/Ode)

Minimalism may have run its course but there are pieces on this appealing album by pianist Brederode (and group) which find a romantic heart within the steady pulse.

Brederode and his band -- Claudio Puntin on clarinets, Mats Eilertsen on double bass and drummer Samuel Rohrer -- represent a new generation for the ECM label which is now approaching middle-age and needing to find new, creative and productive musicians.

This album bodes well: there is a stateliness about the playing (which suggests you may hear the leader on ECM's New Series of contemporary classical recordings) but also the stabbing interplay from Rohrer and the coiling clarinets keep this firmly in the field of ECM's poised, chamber-style jazz.

There is the customary spare and dry sound, the suggestions of expansive and empty landscapes and places, and a meditative quality. And As You July Me is quite eerie.

One for ECM lovers and those curious about contemporary European jazz of the tightly woven variety.

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